City of Brush Clean-up scheduled for May 2-6

By Katie Collins Brush News-Tribune Staff Writer

Posted:
03/22/2016 09:00:17 AM MDT

Updated:
03/22/2016 09:01:46 AM MDT

The City of Brush Council Chambers are in the midst of a makeover as city staff and officials begin a 2016 remodeling goal that features a new city sign, chairs and flooring, for now. (Katie Collins/News-Tribune)

A spurt of snow showers have once again ushered in the month of March in Colorado as residents recover from Daylight Savings woes, but the spring season is nearly upon us.With the coming of the official vernal equinox on March 20, the City of Brush has begun preparations for the changing conditions, including setting May 2-6 for the city’s annual Spring Cleanup program. Brush! SpringCleanupAccording to City of Brush Director of Utilities and Public Works Dale Colerick, this year’s Spring Cleanup program is for residents only and will have city crews picking up extra loads during residents’ regularly scheduled trash pick-up day.Most items will be picked up free of charge, with the exception of tree branches, electronics, oil, tires, batteries, hazardous materials or Freon appliances. City crews ask that sticks be bundled together and that extra trash items be piled neatly next to polykarts. Tree branches will be taken throughout that week, and on Saturday, May 7, city crews will set up at the parking lot located on Carson Street across from the city’s street shop, just south of the Post Office. Citizens are encouraged to drop off branches there for disposal. For those wishing to get rid of electronics, the city is hoping to procure help from an electronics recycling firm who Colerick is attempting to have set up in Brush on Wednesday, May 5 to aid in the disposal of items such as tube-type televisions, old computer monitors and more.

Advertisement

The City currently is reviewing the cost, which will include a $500 mobilization charge, to have the firm on-hand. The cost for disposal is around $.49-per-pound for the service, and customers will be asked to pay that charge. Colerick cited that mattresses will still be picked up this season; however, his department is currently reviewing procedures for handling and collecting mattresses that addresses bed bug issues. Sprucing up for spring also has had city crews out and about in an attempt to clean out city alleyways which have become soggy and messy following recent precipitation events, with crews trying to tackle those as fast as possible along with a variety of pothole problems that have popped up. “We are slowly gaining on those, but it has been a significant problem this year,” Colerick stated.Downtown Project –Final PhaseThe city streets are also bracing for renewal as well, as Brush kicks off the fourth and final phase of its Downtown Revitalization project, which will have new stormwater lines connected into the previous system that left off at Eaton and Clayton streets.The new lines will extend to the property recently purchased for the latest storm water pond, to be dug at the east end of Eaton Street. Previously, the storm water lines were much smaller and drained north of town causing the system to quickly back up leaving rain to overflow the system and flood while things slowly drained.With the new pipes having a much larger capacity and a storm water pond in closer proximity, this final phase is the final piece of alleviating the downtown flooding that Brush has experienced through the years during significant rainfall.A slew of street closures and detours will likely highlight the work, with excavations beginning as soon as March 28. 50/50 Tree Planting ProgramThe spring season also ushers in the Ccty’s 50/50 tree planting program to encourage new life within Brush boundaries.Through it, citizens can purchase a new tree at 50 percent of the city’s wholesale tree cost, which normally run from $140 to $250. The deadline to take part in the program is Wednesday, March 30 and trees will be delivered April 13 and 14. Requirements entail that trees must be planted in the front yard.Call Karen Schminke at 842-5001 for more information and details on the varieties of trees available. Prohibiting Potgrowth and salesDuring the regular meeting of the Brush City Council on Monday, March 14, council approved an ordinance to officially repeal a section of the Brush Municipal Code, putting a final stop to any marijuana-related retail or growth operations within the city limits. The approval came on a 5-1 vote. Prepping for StormWater pondsAlso approved was a right-of-entry agreement requested by CGRS, a ground water research services company, who will be installing monitoring wells near the old Sinclair station, a.k.a. the Draegert Feed store, located north of 505 E. Edison Street.The area has endured a lot of ground water activity over the past 20 years and the city is preparing to construct a new storm water pond on property located to the north of this area, with the monitoring wells to be placed on the brim. Going GreenCity Administrator Monty Torres told council he had received information from Xcel Energy regarding a new LED street lighting program that urges cities like Brush to change their sodium high pressure lights to LED.One option Xcel provided was for the city to participate with Xcel paying up-front costs for the installation. Council urged staff to move that project forward with approval, as well as another go-green project that could have Brush be home to a new solar farm.According to Torres, the solar farm company continues to work with the city in surveying property and has submitted a letter of intent to hold a parcel of property. Both projects will be seen in upcoming council sessions. BrushCo Farms Greenhouse requests worker housing, utility connect On the agenda for the next meeting of the Brush City Council, slated Monday, March 28 at 6 p.m. is a formal action item tackling a wastewater utility agreement with BrushCo Farms and owners Mastronardi/Sunset Produce.The agreement will allow the greenhouse to discharge wastewater into the city treatment plant seasonally, after the health department determined the original discharge point, the Beaver Creek, to be a seasonal flowing river, requiring a stop to dumping there through the off-flowing season. BrushCo will continue to discharge to the Beaver Creek for months allowed, but will discharge to the Brush plant for others, should the agreement be approved.The flow was known to be unique in that it lacks a great deal of organics and often consists of mainly water. The agreement comes on the heels of a request by BrushCo Farms to allow temporary worker housing on-site of the greenhouse, which counts as one of the most profitable and productive per acre in the entire country and grows nine million pounds of exceptionally grown hydroponic tomatoes per year, with 20 percent of that output purchased locally. According to BrushCo Manager and greenhouse afficianado Leo de Groof, who came with wife and Office Manager Mariane to a January session of the Brush Council, the farms’ need to provide housing for workers that often come from afar, including Mexico through the H2AVisa program, and stay through a campaign considered temporary and seasonal for the greenhouse portion that runs about nine months of the year, has become profound.Last year the company reported that out of 50 laborers hired in the season’s start, only two stayed on through year’s end. The problem is turnover. When the project was proposed to council in 2015, many questions arose, including whether or not BrushCo Farms had made legitimate attempts to hire locally, or raise wages, in order to keep a consistent labor force.According to Mastronardi/Sunset produce, who has eight greenhouse locations throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico, raising wages in other properties has made no difference. “If you have all these greenhouses in various states and have attempted to raise wages in other areas,” asked Brush Councilman Rick Bain, “then why not make an attempt of it here as well? It couldn’t hurt to try, could it?”de Groof replied, “It is very simple. We hire through Elwood Staffing, continuously, as our corporation prompts us to do. Some people last only one hour, and they leave before even doing anything. As soon as they see someone with experience, they turn and walk away,” he noted with dismay. “People simply aren’t used to physical labor anymore. That’s why money isn’t always the factor.”“We grew up in the dirt and know what work means,” he stated, adding, “These days, if you tell people they can’t carry their cell phone, they’ll leave. Some leave due to food safety, as they aren’t willing to wear a hair net.” de Groof reported that his corporation forces the greenhouse to find labor through employment agencies, who require a base age of 18, which nixes any student workers.With the busy season beginning in April, student workers might not be a good solution. The couple also reported that while the packing area is seasonal, the greenhouse itself works the entire year, and the attempt is to keep at least 30 full-year employees there, with about 75 workers on-hand during the peak of the year.During winter months when operations slow, however, many workers are reduced to 32 hour work-weeks and many then leave. “The physical aspects scare people away,” de Groof said. “People aren’t used to the physical aspects of labor and it is a pity. People don’t find joy anymore in being active. It all has to be computerized and simple. So many think they are entitled to so much these days, but we have to keep our business going despite and it is a farm business. When workers from Mexico come with a fast and easy technique to help keep our plants growing strong and lasting, and they are willing to do the work we ask, then we don’t mind going to get them. We will still hire locally, however, and encourage anyone to apply with us.”BrushCo Farms has also put forth the option of raising local wages to $11 per hour. According to de Groof, “When I first came to Brush 18 years ago, the average selling price for a pound of tomatoes was $1.20. Today, we don’t even make .50 cents. Back then the hiring rate was $5.50 to $6 per hour and now it is $9. So how can we make this all happen? If we want to survive we must be very inventive and we have to work hard. We can’t have people in there wandering around, but then again, we never fired a single person. They’ve all left. It is sad that it comes this far, and that in the 40 years I’ve done this is where we end up, but we have to keep going and we can’t wait too long as season is on its way,” he concluded.Brush City Councilors heard many work session discussions throughout the latter half of 2015 and into 2016 in regards to the matter, with attorneys from many sides coming forth to address the issue. Before putting the worker housing question to a vote, councilors decided to tackle the utility issues for the company first.Both issues will likely be front and center at upcoming sessions.

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.